The five-player, 10-second move that led to the Galaxy’s equalizing goal against Portland over the weekend sums up where the team sits at the halfway mark of the MLS season ahead of Wednesday’s All-Star Game (live at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2 and Unimas).

Originating in the Galaxy’s own half, the counterattack was initiated by central defender Omar Gonzalez, who beat a Timbers defender and slipped the ball to the perennially influential Landon Donovan.

“As a team, we’ve kind of figured out the system we like to play and how to take advantage of other teams,” Rogers said. “This team is really clicking and I think the guys are really enjoying themselves the way we pass the ball and move, and have guys getting forward. I think it’s enjoyable, as well, for the fans to watch.”

It is, in marked contrast to the season’s ragged opening that saw the Galaxy occupy the Western Conference basement as recently as May 21.

But since beating Dallas to halt a four-game winless skid and move off the bottom that day, the Galaxy have lost just once in 11 games.

“They’re full of confidence right now,” Timbers coach Caleb Porter said Saturday, a note of admiration in his voice. “They’re a team that seems to find that next level this time of year. They smell the playoffs. We caught them at a tough time right now because they’re flying. You saw that last week when they went on the road and smacked Seattle (3-0). We did a little bit better than that, but not much.”

Not when the Galaxy’s most telling players have performed during this stretch in a rampant manner exemplified by Saturday’s free-wheeling counterattack that was finished in ruthless fashion by fast-rising star Zardes.

The Galaxy already possess the stingiest back line in MLS, conceding just 17 goals while scoring almost double that figure at the other end of the field. Now add in a capability to start offensive moves from the back while Rogers tees up the strikers with teasing crosses, and you have offensive weapons few other MLS teams can match.

Indeed, the switch from winger to defender has revitalized Rogers’ attacking game, finally unleashing undoubted potential and technical skills that appeared to drift aimlessly in the last few years. He appears to be the younger heir apparent to the injured Todd Dunivant in the position, while adding an option going forward that was seldom part of Dunivant’s game

“Sometimes in life, people find a position,” Keane said. “ I think certainly, this is Robbie’s best position. … Because he has so much energy, he can get back and defend and he’s very hard to beat. When he gets into the attacking half, he can cross a ball, which we’ve seen in Gyasi (Zardes’) goal.”

The Hawthorne youngster has seven goals in his last eight games and is second in scoring to Keane, who has a club-leading dozen after notching two more against Portland.

“We can be a better team than we were last year,” Donovan said. “We are much more experienced in a lot of different positions. We struggled getting results early on, but the results are coming, and if we keep doing this, we are going to move up the table. Who knows how far we can go?”

Veteran journalist Nick Green is the beat reporter for the cities of Torrance, Carson and Lomita and also covers the South Bay's rapidly growing craft beer industry for the Daily Breeze. He has worked for newspapers on the West Coast since graduating in 1987 from the University of Washington and lives in Old Torrance with his wife and two cats. Follow him on Twitter @NickGreen007 and @BeerGogglesLA.